Spinal surgery for spinal deformities, such as scoliosis and kyphosis, is often performed on children who have not finished growing. Traditionally, the correction is achieved by a combination of techniques including distraction/compression along the axis of a rod, rotation/bending of the rod that is provisionally tethered to the spine, rotation of the spine around the rod, and pulling the spine to match a preconfigured rod. These technologies mostly focus on distraction along the longitudinal axis and/or use of a pre-contoured rod to change the shape of the curve of the spine.
In addition to the manipulation of the spine with hardware, many scoliosis and kyphosis procedures also involve spinal fusion. A goal of such procedures is to fuse as few vertebral levels as possible to preserve as much motion as possible while not jeopardizing the long term stability of the spine. Accordingly, it may be useful to provide a system and method to correct the curvature of the spine without the need for fusion.
Furthermore, due to the normal ongoing growth of the patient, it is sometimes necessary to perform repeat surgeries. For example, treatment of conditions such as scoliosis sometimes requires that previously implanted spinal hardware be adjusted in terms of its anchoring or shape so that treatment can be performed in a gradual manner. Even though the follow-up surgeries may be less traumatic than the original surgery that initially implanted the hardware, it may be beneficial for the patient if such surgeries could be minimized or even avoided altogether.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus to manipulate the curvature of the spine that reduces or eliminates both the need for repeat surgeries, the need for spinal fusion, or a combination thereof.